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Monday, September 11, 2006

The Many 9/11s

Although my 9/11 story is not that memorable, that day has been etched in my mind ever since. I also will never forget my first up close view of Ground Zero a week or so after 9/11, when the "frozen zone" that kept most out began to shrink. Standing on Broadway and looking west I could see the smoking twisted facade 5 WTC and its ground level storefronts and behind it the skeleton frame of the burned out twin towers.

I have made an effort to stop at Ground Zero every 9/11 since. While today's observances within Ground Zero -- the slow, monotonous reading of names, and the sad, elegiac music -- was as touching as ever, the scene outside of Ground Zero was rather pathetic. Black t-shirted conspiracy theorists outnumbered observers. One guy handed me an 11 dollar bill (with Bush's face on it - haha) listing about 20 or so websites all promising to tell the "real truth" about 9/11. As opposed to prior years, most "regular people" were simply on they way to work, treating the commemorations as a curiosity, or worse, as an inconvenience.

I guess the scene I saw today is sort of a metaphor to the way 9/11 is slowly turning into vastly different events for different people. There is the 9/11 that is the private "yahrtzeit" for so many family and friends of those who lost their lives. Then there is the 9/11 of the nutjobs of the left and right, an event to be used as a bludgeon against their favored political enemies, whether it's Clinton, Bush, the UN, or the Jews. And, sadly, there is the 9/11 for most Americans -- one that lives on as a hazy memory long in the past that is fit for dramatization as a Major Motion Picture, or a cheesy movie of the week.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]